I just received an email response from Luke at IMPLAN. It came two days after my deadline, but I must say it’s perhaps the most thorough reply I have ever gotten in an email. It was so good, I will be more precise in future criticisms and join the throng saying IMPLAN is a brilliant tool for handling formidable tons of maths. It works well as a first approximation, but requires adjustments.
I was working on an article for a local paper trying to find out why we were being told ROI’s for corporate welfare were close to 10 or 20. A spokesman for IMPLAN has said 1.8 is maximal. I wanted to get my hands on the software to see how outrageous I could be. Back when I had an engineering job, we had some beta software. It was very good, but the developer didn’t want to waste time writing error trapping code. I was the same way when I wrote in-house programs for people who knew what they were doing. Anyway, one day I think I deflected an 18″ cantilever about a mile just for kicks. Something like that has to be going on with Buncombe County economic development incentives. I just wanted to name the windows for abuse.
